When Corsair introduced its Obsidian line in 2009 with the 800D it brought out a case that was beautiful, functional, and massive. In 2011 Corsair introduced the mid-tower Obsidian 650D it was still beautiful, functional, and just a bit too big for many enthusiasts. In 2013, Corsair introduced its first Micro-ATX case the 350D. The 350D keeps the beauty and functionality of its larger brethren but fits it into 17.7" x 17.3" case designed to contain a powerful multi-GPU system in a much smaller enclosure than many enthusiast have been accustomed to in the past. So let Benchmark Reviews walk you through the Corsair 350D and look at the new smaller case design.

Intel's Haswell CPU's and Z87 motherboards may well be just around the corner, but that hasn't stopped MSI from releasing another line of Z77 motherboards. With this new line of motherboards MSI are aiming at the gaming scene, and have a bold new color scheme and heatsink design to match. We are used to seeing either yellow or blue theme motherboards from MSI but this new 'gaming' line-up breaks that mould. Benchmark Reviews takes a look at the mid range MSI Z77A-G45 GAMING LGA1155 Motherboard (P/N 911-7752-19S) in this article. The MSI Z77A-G45 GAMING motherboard supports 3rd Gen & 2nd Gen Intel CPU's designed for the LGA115x socket, and DDR3 speeds up to 3000MHz (OC). Not much separates motherboards with the same chipset these days, so extras like a KILLER E2200 NIC, Creative Sound Blaster Cinema sound and PCI Express Gen 3 expansion slots aim to make sure you have a high quality experience with this latest offering from MSI.

Enthusiasts know Mad Catz and their gaming-oriented peripherals. In fact, the company motto is All About the Game. Under their Tritton, Saitek, and Cyborg sub-brands, they've offered keyboards, headsets, game controllers, mice, flight sticks and other peripherals aimed at gamers. Now, they tell us, they've decided to offer a more "mainstream" mouse, the M.O.U.S.⁹. Although it's visually very similar to their R.A.T. series of gaming mice, the M.O.U.S.⁹ is more consumer-oriented. How much more so? Well, we here at Benchmark Reviews aim to find out.

Everybody needs a NAS, I'm convinced. Maybe if I described what the modern NAS has become - a Private Cloud, then everyone would agree. Years ago, when Benchmark Reviews started reviewing NAS servers, they were made to sit on your network as a sort of file server and you used proprietary, vendor supplied backup software. Today, as we all know, everything is wide open. Access anything, anywhere, with any application is not just a dream anymore. Hardware is still important, but the depth and breadth of the software is becoming more of a differentiator. The ASUSTOR AS-604T NAS Network Storage Server uses a familiar hardware platform - Intel Atom and a Linux distro, but the design team didn't stop there. There are some fundamental improvements that were ready to be solved from a slightly different perspective. Join in, as we see how this new 4-bay device compares to its competitors.

The state of the Hackintosh continues to advance, and building one is now easier than ever. A few years ago, you had to have a high level of expertise to build and maintain a Hackintosh, and the compatibility problems were significant. Today, the available software tools are very advanced, and while there are still potential pitfalls, if you can install Windows, you can probably build a working Hackintosh. In this article I'll show you how to build a modern Intel Ivy Bridge-based Hackintosh with PC components that are guaranteed to work.

Micron Technology updates their product family with the new Crucial M500 solid state drive, which arrives in capacities ranging from 120GB-960GB for 2.5" SATA, mSATA, and M.2/NGFF form factors. Built upon the Marvell 88SS9187-BLD2 SATA 6Gb/s controller using custom Crucial firmware, M500 utilizes 20nm Micron-branded Synchronous Multi-Level Cell (MLC) NAND Flash components for an increased per-die NAND capacity that makes the entire more affordable. In this article, Benchmark Reviews tests the 480GB Crucial M500 Solid State Drive (model CT480M500SSD1) and compare it against the fastest SATA 6GB/s storage solutions available.

The cell phone and Ethernet are 40 years old this year and both are omnipresent in our digital lives. Like many elements of today's consumer tech, Ethernet was developed at XEROX PARC and then commercialized elsewhere. Ethernet came to the PC in 1982, with a bandwidth cap of 10 Megabits per second; most consumers and small businesses are now operating at 1Gb/s speeds. That will change soon to 10Gb/s, if the NETGEAR XS708E 10GbE Switch is any indication. Its eight RJ-45 ports are designed to interface with common Cat 6 wiring, and it also has one SFP+ port to handle fiber optic connections. Benchmark Reviews brings you an inside look at a break-out offering in the NETGEAR ProSAFE Plus Switch line, which brings 10GbE connectivity down to the masses.

Television and streaming multimedia content are staples to modern personal entertainment, allowing online providers such as Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, HBO GO, and YouTube to compete with premium cable and network programming. It's become clear that digital music, photos, and movies have practically replaced their physical counterparts. Likewise, the growing number of people who enjoy streaming and downloaded multimedia content could soon outnumber those tuning in to television broadcasts or renting movies on disc. The industry knows this to be true, which is why ASUSTeK Computer Inc. has introduced the ASUS CUBE Media Streamer with Google TV and given users 50GB of ASUS WebStorage space. In this article, Benchmark Reviews explores the ASUS CUBE and demonstrates how well this second-generation Google TV 'buddy box' fits into the modern home theater landscape.